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Are we ready to find fun in the famine?

Eithne Shortall

The Irish famine would appear to be having a moment. Yes, there have been artistic interpretations in the past — Tom Murphy’s densely populated play, Liam O’Flaherty’s seminal novel — but given the scale of the Great Hunger and its deep-rooted impact on the Irish psyche, there really hasn’t been a lot.

This year, however, we’ve had Grace, Paul Lynch’s novel about a young girl disguised as a boy to avoid the atrocities hunger can condone; and Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine, Declan O’Rourke’s album inspired by the era’s workhouses. There have been stage shows on the other side of the Atlantic.

Next year brings the expected release of Black 47, remarkably the first feature film about the Irish famine to make it into…

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